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Category Archives: Defense

NYT – Robert Taylor, Innovator Who Shaped Modern Computing, Dies at 85

The Internet had many progenitors – not one. Thanks to the New York Time for shining light on the multifaceted work of one man whose consistent creative genius moved us forward in ways most do not know:  “Like many inventions, the internet was the work of countless hands. But perhaps no one deserves more credit… Continue Reading

Armed Conflict in Syria: Overview and U.S. Response

CRS – Armed Conflict in Syria: Overview and U.S. Response. Carla E. Humud, Coordinator Analyst in Middle Eastern Affairs; Christopher M. Blanchard, Specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs; Mary Beth D. Nikitin, Specialist in Nonproliferation April 7, 2017. “A deadly chemical weapons attack in Syria on April 4, 2017, and a U.S. military strike in response… Continue Reading

Pew – wider partisan and ideological gap between younger, older generations

Pew Research Center: “The generation gap in American politics is dividing two younger age groups, Millennials and Generation X, from the two older groups, Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation. In 2016, as in recent years, Millennials and Gen Xers were the most Democratic generations. And both groups had relatively large – and growing –… Continue Reading

Bloomberg – Bannon Removed From National Security Council Role in Shakeup

Bannon Removed From National Security Council Role in Shakeup: “President Donald Trump reorganized his National Security Council on Wednesday, removing his chief strategist, Stephen Bannon, and downgrading the role of his Homeland Security Adviser, Tom Bossert, according to a person familiar with the decision and a regulatory filing. National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster was given… Continue Reading

CRS – The War Powers Resolution: Concepts and Practice

The War Powers Resolution: Concepts and Practice, updated March 28, 2017 [via FAS] “This report discusses and assesses the War Powers Resolution and its application since enactment in 1973, providing detailed background on various cases in which it was used, as well as cases in which issues of its applicability were raised. It will be… Continue Reading

CRS – Trump Administration’s March 2017 Defense Budget Proposals

Trump Administration’s March 2017 Defense Budget Proposals: Frequently Asked Questions, April 3, 2017. [via FAS] “On March 16, 2017, the Trump Administration released two defense budget proposals — a proposal for national defense (budget function 050) discretionary spending for fiscal year (FY) 2018 as part of the Administration’s Budget Blueprint for federal spending, and a… Continue Reading

Paper – Self-Defence Against Non-State Actors

Peters, Anne and Marxsen, Christian and Christakis, Theodore and Corten, Olivier and Couzigou, Irene and Frowein, Jochen A. and Lo Giacco, Letizia and Grover, Leena and Hartwig, Matthias and van den Herik, Larissa and Kawagishi, Shin and Keinan, Guy and Oellers-Frahm, Karin and Oesterdahl, Inger and Sassenrath, Carl-Philipp and Sjöstedt, Britta and Starski, Paulina and… Continue Reading

A Shift in the International Security Environment: Potential Implications for Defense – Issues for Congress

CRS – A Shift in the International Security Environment: Potential Implications for Defense–Issues for Congress, updated March 23, 2017. Ronald O’Rourke, Specialist in Naval Affairs. “World events have led some observers, starting in late 2013, to conclude that the international security environment has undergone a shift from the familiar post-Cold War era of the past… Continue Reading

CRS – Russia: Background and U.S. Interests

Russia: Background and U.S. Interests, March 1, 2017 (R44775) “Since 1991, Congress has played a key role in the development of U.S. policy toward the Russian Federation (Russia), the principal successor to the United States’ former superpower rival, the Soviet Union. In that time, U.S.-Russian relations have gone through positive and negative periods. Each new… Continue Reading

Economist Daily Chart visualizes Trump’s first budget

The Economist Daily Chart by the Data Team – Donald Trump’s ‘America First’ budget would make deep cuts to domestic programmes – Graphic detail “Stephen Bannon, President Donald Trump’s chief strategist, famously promised the “deconstruction of the administrative state”. On March 16th, the Trump administration took its first step toward achieving Mr Bannon’s vision by… Continue Reading

Physicist declassifies rescued nuclear test films

“The U.S. conducted 210 atmospheric nuclear tests between 1945 and 1962, with multiple cameras capturing each event at around 2,400 frames per second. But in the decades since, around 10,000 of these films sat idle, scattered across the country in high-security vaults. Not only were they gathering dust, the film material itself was slowly decomposing,… Continue Reading